Roeder At Fault

Speaking in today's Sun Glenn Roeder admits it was his fault that West Ham got relegated under his managership.

"I still take responsibility for what happened when the club was relegated. But, looking back, I would say that in football terms I hit the post. I accept that responsibility and I don’t go hiding. The buck stops with me. We got relegated and I ended up losing my job at the start of the next season."

However Roeder still has excuses for how he managed to take a side that contained what is essentially now a third of the Endland national squad from seventh place in the Premiership to the Championship in one season,

"... in my second season we were without our two main strikers — Freddie Kanoute and Paolo Di Canio — for six months and without strikers you can’t expect to win games."

Having lost Owen to injury and Shearer to retirement we would forgive Roeder for feeling a sense of deja-vu. His side have failed to score in successive Premiership games away from home, and last netted a League goal on the road at the Stadium of Light on 17 April, when they played already relegated local Sunderland.